ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown developer suing the city over a homeless encampment settled his lawsuit this week after crews evicted residents and bulldozed the area.
Nat Hyman filed paperwork Tuesday afternoon to end his litigation over the encampment.
Hyman had alleged camp residents trespassed, urinated and defecated on his properties, hurting their value, and stole water and electricity.
Hyman said he sued after he reached out to Allentown officials, including Mayor Matt Tuerk, but saw no action.
The developer was seeking $50,000 or more in damages from the city, as well as court costs and other relief.
He settled the suit without receiving compensation for damages or legal fees, according to Lehigh County Court records.
Camp was a flood risk: Mayor
Tuerk has repeatedly said his move to close the camp was not related to Hyman’s lawsuit.
He pointed to an analysis by Allentown fire officials that deemed the area near the creek to be a flood risk as he ordered residents’ eviction.
Hyman’s lawsuit challenged Tuerk’s directive for city officials to clean up rather than clear out homeless camps.
“It’s not really addressing the problem, it’s just brushing it aside."Mayor Matt Tuerk in April
A police sergeant this spring championed the mayor’s move away from bulldozing sites.
“As long as the community is safe, there's no need for us to bother” people living in encampments, then-Sgt. John Leonard said at a city Commission on Homelessness meeting in March.
The mayor in April told LehighValleyNews.com he changed the city’s approach because it solves nothing to “clear people out without a place to shelter.”
“It’s not really addressing the problem, it’s just brushing it aside,” he said. “Why just bulldoze somebody’s tent if they have nowhere else to go?”
Cleanup continues
Some still at the camp Monday morning said about 30 residents still were living there as city workers moved into the camp with a bulldozer, backhoe and dumpsters about 8 a.m., when the mayor’s eviction order took effect.
Crews returned with the bulldozer before 8 a.m. Tuesday, and other equipment was unloaded shortly after.
“It’s heartless.”Allentown homeless encampment resident
Two former residents who moved out of the camp after Tuerk’s eviction order also were back, helping a handful of others load their belongings into a truck.
“It’s heartless,” said one, who asked for her name to not be used, as police watched a man push a wheelbarrow through piles of clothes and other items nearby.
Much of the area had been leveled, and crews were working to clean up debris. But some areas of the camp remained just as their former residents left them.
A city employee told LehighValleyNews.com on Monday morning that cleanup crews would “be [at the camp] a long time.”
An Allentown spokesperson did not immediately provide comment Wednesday about Hyman’s decision to end his lawsuit.
